The Arizona sentinel., 1887-02-12

l pOSlGlOH LII SIosto HI pOl lluCO anu plOS-
 perity to one of comparative degrade
 tion. Few persons of the present day
 have an adequate idea of the extent to
 which tavern-life influenced thought
 and manners fifty, one hundred, or two
 hundred years ago. Then each man
 had his tavern, much as we now have our clubs and reading-rooms;
 there he nightly met his friends, heard
 the high-priced London newspapers
 read aloud, and discussed the political
 and business topics of the time. Dick
 ems, in Barnaby Rudge, has well
 sketched the select village company
 which for many years had met nightly
 at the old Maypole to tipple and debate. i Ale was the universal beverage on these
 occasions; and in days when there were
 no colossal breweries at Burton, Rom i ford, or elsewhere, the fame of any
 tavern was great or small according to
 the skill of the landlord or his serv-
 ants in producing this beverage. Inns,
 too, formed the stopping-places of the
 many coaches of a hundred years ago,
 and at them were kept the numerous
 horses then required for the traffic. In
 the old coaching-days, indeed, many q
 small town or village on any main road
 consisted largely or chiefly of inns;
 and supplying the necessaries for the passing traffic may be said to
 have formed the ''local industry by
 which the inhabitants of such places lived. Thus the inns of olden times combined to large ,.extent within themselves the various uses to which modern clubs, reading-rooms, insti- tutes, railway stations, eating-houses, hotels, public-houses, livery stables,
 and the like, are now severally put. Then they were the centers round which most events of the time revolved; now they are little more than tippling- houses for the lower classes.
 The various devices used as signs are of infinite variety and varying degrees of interest, from the heads, or DOT traits of modern political, naval or military celebrities, to such signs as the Rose and Crown, the Fleur-de-Lys, the Spread Eagle, the Cross Keys, our numerous Arms, fantastically colored animals of all kinds, and many other similar devices. Signs of the former kind require little or no explanation; they are usually modern and un- interesting vulgarisms, and their meaning are self-apparent. With signs of the latter class, how ever, the case is generally far diff ferent, and search for their original significance. often much obscured by the mists of antiquity, is usually an interesting one. As rule, such signs will be found to have been derived from the armorial bearings of some sovereign, noble or other historical parsonage.
 From the quaint and almost forgot ten science of heraldry, indeed, has been derived a large majority of our oldest and most interesting signs. This fact need cause no surprise when it is remembered that in former days every one was familiar with this so-called 'science," The incomprehensible jar gon, spoken of as ''blazon" by heraldic writers, and the various devices appear ing on all modern coats of arms, though little more nowadays than grotesque hieroglyphics to most, were once read and perfectly understood even by the common people. A knowledge of heraldry was once, prob ably, as general as a knowledge l of the "three Rs'' is now. It was no wonder, therefore, that the idea early suggested itself to the minds of | tradesmen and others to use their own | coats of arms-when they had any-or those of the great trade guild to which they belonged, or those of their land | lord, or some patron, as signs. This | convenient custom, once established, | would be sure to be largely followed; there can, indeed, be no question that | in this way arose the custom of naming houses the "So-and-so Arms" At the | present time, the custom itself remains, though its origin has been almost en- IASiy lOoO ols 5hO Ol- UhdLN lulS lltNC III consequence come to be known as the Arms of persons, trades, places, and things which never did, and never could, bear coat of arms. Such signs, for instance, as the Lil- liput Arms the Cricketers' Arms, and the Libra Arms. are modern and meaningless absurdities. Clearly the origin of the Kings Arms had never occurred to the simple clodhop- per of whom it is related that he once walked many miles to see King George ". on one of his journeys, and who came home greatly disappointed; for he found the King had arms like other men, while he had always understood that His Majesty's right arm was lion, and his left unicorn. Arms of various kinds form large proportion of our modern signs, often as much as ten per cent, and sometimes double that in particular districts. As gen. eral rule, where a house has displayed for many years together an armorial sign, the coat will be found to be that of the largest landowner or most